Zenko and Yako
by Rikkamaru
Summary: Imayoshi wasn't entirely human, but that didn't make him a monster and, when he got the chance, he helped Kuroko come to terms with some parts of his past, and Imayoshi may not be a monster but he certainly wasn't a saint either. Gen, Imayoshi-centric and Kuroko-centric. One-shot, No Pairings.


Don't own Kuroko no Basuke.

Don't own the Cover Art.

Zenko and Yako

* * *

Once more Shouichi was sitting in his favorite café in the Tokyo area, the soda and soup that had become his usual in front of him as he thanked the waitress, the same girl who'd served him the first time he came here, who smiled back bashfully before moving on to another table. He smiled a little at her retreating back, before taking a sip of his drink, and didn't bother being surprised when a teenage girl flopped into the booth across from him. "Shou-chan is such a charmer," she teased, her snaggletooth showing as she offered him a cheeky smile.

He smiled back at her with an innocent cock to his head. "Not quite like you are, Kyoko-chan, but I reckon I'm not too shabby."

She giggled at his compliment, tossing her hair back and giving a mischievous grin before she grew serious and leaned forward a bit. "I saw your game with Seirin at the Winter Cup," she told him, and he nodded, unsurprised. When she didn't say anything and eyed his soup, he gave a long suffering sigh and waved at the waitress, who nodded back in amused understanding when she saw how annoyed he looked with his companion.

The waitress came by a moment later and set a bowl in front of Kyoko, who startled before offering her a thankful smile and tucking in with a content sigh. She then looked back up at Shouichi. "That Misdirection boy, he's a kitsune hanyou too."

"Kuroko-kun? I suspected as much, but it's good to have a second opinion," Shouichi let out a long sigh through his nose and took a spoonful of miso soup, happy to find there was extra tofu added to it. He stared into the bowl, stirring it occasionally, before revealing, "He ain't aware of it."

Kyoko perked up. "Oh? How do you know?"

"He can't control his Misdirection. He's infamous as being this secret sixth Miracle from Teikou, likely because of that Misdirection he can't turn off. And Seirin said it themselves; he can't turn it off, it only stops if he _makes_ it run out."

The girl winced at the thought. "Sounds awful. But that also means he's likely to be really powerful in illusions when you start training him."

Shouichi hummed, amused. "'When', ya said, not 'if'. Yer confidence in me takin' him under my wing is astoundin'." Shouichi didn't look at her as he took a sip of his soda. "We've spoken on this, Kyoko-chan. I'm a decent guardian, and a horrible teacher. After Hanamiya-kun, I likely should be forbidden from teachin' ever again."

He reached for his soda again, but was stopped by a spoon smacking his fingers soundly which made him flinch back and glower at his friend, who glared back with amber eyes that almost seemed to glow in the dim lighting. "Don't say that, Shou-chan. You did fine with Hanamiya. No one knew what to do with a nekomata hanyou, and you at the very least broke the barrier between his human and demon self. If you hadn't the poor boy could've gone mad."

"Yes. Instead all I did was make a child who revels in the pain he causes others." Shouichi knew he sounded bitter, and likely deserved the smack he got for that remark.

Kyoko sighed and stirred her soup. "That is the way of the nekomata, Shou-chan. They are cruel and devious in their youth, and they never truly grow out of it. He'll figure out his place in the world, especially with being a hanyou, as he ages and learns."

"Why don't you take Kuroko-kun under _yer_ wing, then?" He asked, borderline desperate to avoid such a duty. No matter what the other demons said, he was fairly certain he had destroyed Hanamiya. He didn't want to do that to Kuroko too. "You're full youkai; you're bound ta be better at teachin' than me."

Kyoko snorted at his weak deflection; that attempt alone was enough for her to know that Shouichi _wanted_ to teach, wanted it more than he'd ever let on, but was being held up by his own human side. "Shou-chan, the only reason I wasn't put down was 'cause you stopped me all those years ago from destroying that brothel. I highly doubt _anyone_ would want me teaching a little kitsune hanyou the ins and outs of our world." The inugami had no fear in admitting that, and held her friend's eyes to prove it.

There was a tense pause for a moment before Shouichi snorted and looked down at his soup once more. But his shoulders had relaxed minutely from a tension that Kyoko hadn't even noticed, and it made her grin in victory even as he shot her an annoyed look. "You make a fantastic teacher, Shou-chan; don't ever doubt that. Being a leader is all about being able to help people learn things when they're stuck, and you're a great leader and I'll fight you on that."

She really did look ready to fight him on the matter, so Shouichi gave up and drank more of his soup. "Maa, I guess you'll see how wrong you are eventually," he consoled himself, ignoring the inugami as she stuck her tongue at him petulantly. "But when should I approach him on that? I figured after the Winter Cup, but I can't just randomly come up ta him and ask him ta trust me on this; being told you're a hanyou is always rather difficult." When she only offered him a helpless shrug back, Shouichi gave her an exasperated huff and thought on the matter. Eventually, a mischievous smile curled at his lips. "But who said anythin' about approachin' him as a _human_?"

Kyoko offered him an amused smile and dryly added, "Well that would be a way of explaining things, certainly," which only made the kitsune laugh.

* * *

Even with the victory at the Winter Cup, things weren't over for Seirin, and they continued training as preparation for the next tournament. The Generation of Miracles had been brought to heel on their general poor behavior and hatred of basketball, and Tetsuya was happy – ecstatic, elated; there were many words for his jubilation on that matter – but that wasn't all there was to basketball, and even as one part of Tetsuya relaxed, another part of him shifted, excited and restless for another game.

As he was heading home after another practice, Nigou beside him, Seirin's shadow paused. It felt as if someone were watching him. A moment went by before the feeling lightened up and a fox stepped out of the shadows to stare at him curiously. It was pure black and had an unusual eye color for a fox – slate grey, he judged from what little he could see of them.

The fox stared at him a moment longer, head cocked to the side curiously, before it pawed at the ground and walked a bit ahead. When Tetsuya didn't move, it turned its head and stared at him, its tail and body shifting a little in a way that made Tetsuya think it was waiting for him. Nigou's ears perked up at the creature and began to move towards it, and Tetsuya did so after that, a little wary. But the fox didn't do anything to the puppy that was now standing beside it sniffing it, if anything it seemed amused in the way its eyes narrowed slightly, and instead began to lead Tetsuya down the road, before taking a turn into a rarely used alleyway.

With Nigou following the fox so closely, Tetsuya was forced to do the same. Once he was in the alleyway and out of immediate line of sight from anyone on the street, he caught sight of the fox sitting in the alleyway, tail curled neatly around its paws. It seemed to smile at him before purple and grey light overtook the creature, blinding Kuroko until the light finally died down, revealing someone Tetsuya hadn't anticipated when he probably should have.

"Yo, Kuroko-kun," the former captain of Touou greeted jovially, sitting where the fox had been with a mischievous smile, fox ears on his head and a tail Tetsuya could only just barely see curled behind him.

"Imayoshi-san," he greeted, not sure what else to do as the senior lounged there, petting Nigou who hadn't bothered moving from his side. With a mental shrug, he decided to state the obvious. "You are a kitsune."

"Yup," the other chirped, smile widening even as he corrected, "kitsune hanyou, to be completely upfront about it."

"I see," he answered drily, shifting his weight a little. "And why did you wish to tell me this?"

"Why, because you're a kitsune hanyou as well," Imayoshi told him, happy as you please, and Tetsuya was ready to call him on his bluff when his tongue froze in his mouth, stunned. Because the bluenet had always had a talent for sniffing out lies, and in that moment he could sense nothing but sincerity from the other boy.

"And why do you believe that?" He asked, because maybe Imayoshi simply made a mistake – though he doubted it; with an accusation as grave as that and given what he knew about Imayoshi from Momoi and Aomine, the former captain would have gathered enough evidence to say such a thing.

"Well, for one there was your Misdirection," Imayoshi told him cheerfully, standing up before sitting back down on what looked like thin air that held his weight nonetheless. "Durin' the first game I figured you were a kitsune 'cause of that, as that's a trick kits instinctively know to protect themselves from predators. Even then yours is incredibly powerful, to be using it after all these years," Imayoshi praised, and Tetsuya wasn't sure what to think of that compliment and so ignored it.

"But I thought ya _knew_ ya were a kitsune, until the Winter Cup game where ya had to, in yer words, run out of yer Misdirection and couldn't just turn it off. That's when I figured out ya didn't know, and a friend of mine was at the game and confirmed ya were a kitsune. So yeah," he shrugged easily, as if he hadn't just changed Tetsuya's understanding of himself, "you're a kitsune kid, Kuroko-kun."

"…I see." Tetsuya mulled over this revelation silently to himself. It would fit that Misdirection was a survival tactic for creatures that specialized in illusion, and why someone with light blue hair like himself could go his entire life without ever being really noticed. "This implies that one of my parents is a kitsune, does it not?" At Imayoshi's nod Tetsuya pressed a little more. "Why did they not tell me about my heritage?"

Imayoshi hummed a little at the question, crossing one leg over the other from his position in the air. Nigou got on his hindpaws and rested his front ones on something his owner couldn't see, barking curiously at Imayoshi. The older kitsune smiled back at the dog before turning to look back at Tetsuya. "We – that is, me and the other demons I've been talking to – aren't entirely certain on what's going on. These days, whenever a demon marries a human, they seem to lose their memories of bein' a demon at all. Maybe it's a new survival instinct for demons, maybe it's the fact people here have started usin' Christian wedding ceremonies. We aren't sure at all.

"My own mom didn't teach me anythin'," he revealed, not appearing bothered by the admission. "I found out when a bunch of punks were harassin' a fox in my neighborhood and I ran 'em off. It told some of the kitsune, and they told me of my heritage and trained me up a bit. So you could say I was a bit lucky. Since I only just found out about you, you'll be a bit behind, but I figured I should tell you and make an offer."

"What offer would that be?" Tetsuya asked, more to make certain the suspicion that was building in his mind than out of not knowing completely. The glint in Imayoshi's glasses made Tetsuya think the other knew that as well.

"Every so often, I propose we meet up so I can teach you about some of the tricks that come with being a kitsune, and get you introduced to the less human side of our world. And lesson one will be turning your Misdirection on and off at will." With a short bow of his head, Imayoshi stood up from his invisible chair, scratched Nigou on the head, and made his way out of the alley with his ears and tail fading from view with every step. He wasn't expecting and answer just yet, which Tetsuya appreciated.

He needed to think about this.

* * *

It was three days later and Tetsuya had made a decision regarding Imayoshi's offer to train in his kitsune powers. At first, he wanted to say no; he was busy enough, he didn't need more added on to that in the form of additional duties that may come up in the spiritual side of the world.

But he paused, reconsidered. This was still another part of his heritage, whether he had known about it or not. And it wasn't as if it hadn't been affecting him; his lack of a presence had been a part of Tetsuya his entire life, even before Akashi had him weaponize it for on the court. And, no matter how much Tetsuya had come to accept that he would never stand out in a crowd, or even in a group of three, a small part of him _wanted_ to be seen, and controlling his Misdirection off of the court was the way to do that. So he accepted Imayoshi's offer, but had no way of telling him, and that was his current dilemma.

Even as he thought that, Tetsuya's phone buzzed with a new message, and he checked his phone without thinking. He blinked at the message.

 _ **Yo~ This is Imayoshi! What was your decision in regards to my offer?**_

There was an uncertain pause as Tetsuya stared at the message in stoic bafflement. He blinked again before answering.

 **Hello Imayoshi-san. I would like to accept your offer. Also, how did you receive this phone number?**

The message was answered a moment later.

 _ **Fantastic! Meet me at the Moon Field Café after your practice. And I stole the number from Aomine's phone of course~ Wouldn't want to upset Momoi-chan by looking through her things, after all.**_

Well, Imayoshi wasn't completely suicidal, Tetsuya acknowledged. That or he was unusually gentlemanly if a female was brought into the equation, but the shadow was leaning more toward the former than the latter. As it was currently lunchtime, he made a note to himself to head to the café – while he hadn't been in there yet, he did know the location as it was in between Seirin and Touou – after practice and joined his team for lunch.

Practice ended more swiftly than usual, but Tetsuya chalked that up to his mild apprehension in meeting with Imayoshi. As he bid goodbye to the others, he fiddled with the strap on his bad before moving to catch up to Nigou, who seemed excited to see Imayoshi again. They arrived at the café in good time, and were waved to a booth by a smiling waitress who had brightened up at his name. She didn't seem bothered by Nigou either, and promised to bring a bowl of water for him.

"You seem well-liked here," Tetsuya commented as he slid into the booth across from Imayoshi, who had been staring out the window until the shadow had made his presence known. While the senior had tensed a little at his appearance, he didn't look too surprised by it.

"Yep. I visit here pretty often, and have made a few investments to ensure they stay in business. And they're rather open to hosting spirits so long as they're polite."

"Do you tell everyone you meet about the spirit world?" Tetsuya asked, almost annoyed at the flippant way Imayoshi seemed to be treating this situation. The minute widening of the other boy's smile told him his annoyance had been noticed anyway.

"Of course not," He sniffed, looking entertained. "I only tell people I trust. I more asked if they would mind removin' the seals preventin' spirits from comin' in, with the promise that their fortunes would rise if they did so."

"And they did?"

Glasses gleamed for a moment. "And they did." Imayoshi leaned back from where he had hunched over the table as he grabbed his soda, unsurprised when Tetsuya requested a vanilla milkshake as the waitress came over. Once she was gone he began speaking again. "Before we leave and begin lesson one, I figured I should ask; what do you know about kitsune?"

Tetsuya hummed a little at the question. It figured Imayoshi would want to see what he knew and possibly correct any misinformation Tetsuya picked up from his small research. "Kitsune are fox spirits that are well known for their illusions and cunning. They are known to take the form of beautiful females and seduce men."

"Mmm, yes and no," Imayoshi mildly interrupted. "Kitsune can take either male or female forms, but the female form is most well-known. After all, if a kitsune took a male form, a woman wouldn't be as easily believed back then. Besides, I think the old-timey kitsune found it funny to pull the wool over men's eyes, so they took female forms more often." He quieted then, and gestured for Tetsuya to continue.

"There are two known groups of kitsune: the zenko, which were the god Inari's followers and disciples, and the yako which are generally malicious and more prone to bouts of mischief." Tetsuya checked to see if this was accurate, and received a head tilt and a nod. There was likely more to it, then, but that was enough to know for now.

"You can likely figure out who is who between us then," Imayoshi added dryly, his smile turning razor sharp.

Tetsuya could indeed, but didn't say anything about it. "Occasionally the kitsune will protect a person or family, for instance if their source of power known as their "Hoshi no Tama" is stolen from them."

"This is true," Imayoshi concurred. "As hanyou however we don't have that particular issue. It's been theorized that our hearts are our Hoshi no Tama if we even have one, literally our life source if you will."

"Ah," Tetsuya acknowledged. It would explain why those who he's connected with are better able to sense him. "I believe that is all on what I know."

"That's all ya really need ta know right now, ta be honest." Imayoshi shrugged easily, drinking the rest of his soda before putting it back on the table. "There ain't really a formal history into the youkai, but it's good to have an idea of what your powers lean more towards. In our case, that would be illusion." The older kitsune paused for a moment before bending down and petting Nigou whose tail wagged enthusiastically at being noticed. "Also, as one of the more iconic youkai half-breeds, we're kind of expected to play mediator from time ta time. Nothin' too fancy; if the tengu and kamaitachi are squabblin' again, or if a raijuu tries ta cause a traffic accident, we step in. Ya know, simple things. But that'll come with experience, so no worries."

Tetsuya nodded again, and finished his milkshake rather soon after that. Imayoshi didn't say any more, idly petting Nigou as he occasionally scanned the room. Neither felt the need to talk, and Tetsuya appreciated the rare moment where he could relax without the other person feeling the need to fill the silence with chatter. Occasionally Imayoshi's eyes would pause on the shadow for a moment, but it appeared to be a checking on his position as soon his eyes would move on once more.

When Tetsuya finished his drink, Imayoshi placed money on the table and stood, Nigou getting down as well. Tetsuya followed behind the senior as he left the café with a nod to the waiting staff and shoved his hands in his jacket. "Well, since we're meetin' and all that let's get on to lesson one." Even as he spoke one of his hands appeared again, and he sharply clicked his fingers. Tetsuya felt as it something shifted around them but didn't respond to the change, instead focusing on him. The gesture seemed familiar for some reason.

"You could say that I just set up a Misdirection 'ward' around us. As you know, that simply means people will look over us without a second thought. It comes from a lot of things, but one in particular is desire. 'I don't want anyone to see me, in fact I believe in that moment that if they saw me I would die', and so my survival instincts create a Misdirection barrier around me. The fact that I fear your death as well if we were found makes the barrier extend to you as well. So, to summarize, Misdirection is caused by fear."

Tetsuya cocked his head to the side, mildly confused. "That is understandable. You said that Misdirection is primarily used by kits to defend themselves from predators; I imagine that fear plays a large role in that."

Imayoshi nodded. "Yup. Once they're older, the kits learn to invoke this memory of fear to control their Misdirection." He hesitated for a moment before adding, "As such, the fact that you cannot control your Misdirection implies that you have a fear you cannot control hovering over you." Kuroko's head whipped around to stare at Imayoshi, but the former captain was staring straight ahead, carefully not looking at him.

"You don't need to tell me," Imayoshi offered, still not looking at him as he observed the streetlights that weren't even on yet as they passed beneath them. "You just need to know this. Figure out what you fear, why it won't leave you and, if it helps, know that I'm quite the skilled listener when asked to be. We can't get through lesson one until then." The older kitsune stopped, making Tetsuya do the same and shoot him a confused look. When he merely jerked his head toward the building, the bluenet followed his gaze before coming to rest on the huge building before them. It was Tetsuya's house.

The shadow stood there, contemplating his options and opinions on them while Imayoshi stood next to him with a feigned laziness in his slouch. But Tetsuya could easily see the tension there, cutting through his spine and making him look ready to burst into movement in an instant. But Tetsuya could also sense no ill will from Imayoshi. Instead all he could feel was a lurking anger directed away from Tetsuya, the Misdirection barrier wrapped tightly around the bluenet only half his as Imayoshi's influence strengthened it.

Imayoshi cared, Tetsuya figured. He cared and was concerned for what would make a kitsune so frightened later on in life. It clearly wasn't a common occurrence. This made the shadow decide to trust the older boy; his concern was too directed to be feigned, and Imayoshi might be a fantastic actor but Tetsuya would have sniffed out if he was doing this solely for his own gain. The younger boy opened the door and held it for the other boy. "Please come in," he invited.

* * *

Shouichi didn't bother hiding his tension as he paced a little in front of the couch while Kuroko prepared tea in the adjacent kitchen. It wasn't like it would work, with how tense he was and how perceptive Kuroko was to body language.

Something scared Kuroko, and it had been scaring him for years, and that made something in Shouichi _burn_.

The feeling wasn't specifically in relation to Kuroko; he certainly didn't know the teen well enough to make such a claim. It was more in regards to the fact that _any_ kitsune kit was distressed for so long that they never removed their Misdirection cloak in the first place. Most mythological creatures were incredibly protective of their young, and like it or not Kuroko was younger than Shouichi and thus counted.

The clack of cups on the table by the couch drew Shouichi's attention back to reality, where Kuroko nodded to him and poured tea into the two cups on the table. And though he tried to hide it, Shouichi could see very faint tremors in the bluenet's hands. He was just as keyed up as Shouichi for this talk. "We don't have to do this," the noiret's mouth betrayed him, and he grimaced even as he said that.

But Kuroko just shook his head. "I want to control my Misdirection." He then paused a little, before quietly admitting, "And you aren't the worse person to talk about this."

Shouichi blinked in surprise at that declaration, but didn't bother arguing with the other about that. "Right. Best we get started then."

Kuroko exhaled agreeably at that, and took a sip of the tea. He then put it down. "Many years ago, I once managed to drop my Misdirection cloak while my parents took me to one of the parties they frequent. While there, mother met with two men who appeared to be quite happy to see her. They complimented her a lot, and she seemed to enjoy it and so stayed around them. After a while, she introduced me to them, and they acted…strangely after that."

Shouichi's grip tightened a little on his teacup.

"After a while, my mother left but they offered to keep me company. I didn't like them; they told me that I obviously picked up my looks from my mother and would pet me on the head but something felt wrong with them. They then started to touch my shoulders and arms, but I was so unnerved that my Misdirection reactivated and I disappeared. After the party, Mother scolded me for being so rude to her friends and I stopped going to those parties." Kuroko took a deep breath before continuing. "Ever since then, I would see them from time to time as Mother invites them over and they would be more…forward…in their interest of me, and I couldn't turn off my Misdirection anymore." Kuroko then glanced at Shouichi, but froze. But Shouichi didn't notice.

The burn in his chest had ignited, setting off an inferno that tore threw him, making his hands clench and shattering the cup he'd been holding. His ears and tail had reappeared, the tail thrashing in an echo of his own rage as his ears laid flat on his head.

His mother had left him in the clutches of _pedophiles_ and kept bringing them around Kuroko. Was it any _wonder_ he couldn't control his misdirection? A snarl rose up against his will and Shouichi was out for blood.

"Don't worry, Kuroko-kun," he heard a voice say calmly, and it took Shouichi a moment to realize it was his. "They won't be troublin' ya soon."

Shouichi would make sure of it.

* * *

The days following that confession were a blur to Tetsuya. He was still reeling from actually telling _anyone_ that story, never mind the "sadistic" former captain of the Touou basketball team. But with all of the lingering disbelief there was a kind of lightness in his shoulders that came from sharing that information with someone who wanted to listen, who took his side without a second thought and was angry for _his_ sake. While he wouldn't admit it, Tetsuya was touched.

It was a week after that talk, a week since Shouichi fake-smiled his way out the door with a very sincere promise that Tetsuya didn't need to worry about them anymore, when a newspaper article captured his attention.

 **Prominent Socialites Found Dead in Homes; Found Guilty of Human Trafficking and Sexual Harassment of Minors**

As Tetsuya read the article he saw a picture of the men in question lying on the floor of a house. Neither of them were recognizable, looking as if they had been mauled by a rabid bear. Many suspected that the two had been killed by the parents of the trafficked children (who had all returned home under mysterious circumstances), the children telling them the men's names and where they had been held.

Their faces were frozen in horror and fear, and a part of Tetsuya felt vindictively pleased that the men who had made him live in fear for half of his life were dead and incapable of doing it to anyone else ever again. That there had been other children involved only made the situation even more angering, and the public was clamoring to know who had found the children and brought this information to light.

But Tetsuya had an idea, and for the first time in a long while he could breathe easily, and shuddered as his Misdirection cloak disappeared with little more than the flip of a mental switch. He blinked as someone jumped in surprise beside him before apologizing as they had almost run into him. This made his chest tighten again, but for a completely different reason and Tetsuya scrambled for his phone.

 **Thank you,** he sent, simple but heartfelt, knowing exactly who had done this. Shortly after, his phone buzzed with a response and he smiled.

 _ **Anytime.**_

* * *

Technically speaking, this story is complete. I will add more to this as I get ideas for it, but it is definitely not a priority. That aside, I'm so happy I finished it! The idea of Imayoshi and Kuroko bonding as Imayoshi teaches Kuroko about being a kitsune hanyou and all that entails is adorable to me, so here's hoping I get more ideas for it in the future.

Thanks for reading and please review.

Ja ne!


End file.
